Arda 4e - Scales of War

Arda 4e – Scales of War

Calendars

The scholars of Nerath had a calendar that most of this region still uses. The Nerathi carved history up into Ages, and called the current age the Crown Age. It is, according to that calendar, currently Crown Age year 514, or CA 514. A few scholars have recently suggested that the Crown Age actually ended in CA 404 with the sack of the city of Nerath and the death of King Elidyr and his family. According to those scholars, it is now Shattered Age 190, or SA 190.

Meanwhile, many dragonborn reject the reference to the era of Arkhosia and Bael Turath as the “Imperial Age”, and instead claim it is currently year 5451, counting from a starting time current records have lost, but which may have been the date the dragonborn founded Io’vanthor. Some tieflings prefer to use the Arkhosian reckoning as well, but many others just use Nerathi. Non-dragonborn often call this calendar “Arkhosian Reckoning”, and the date would likely be written as “CA 514, 5451 AR” or “SA 190, 5451 AR”.

Orc Invasion: Reactions

After the recent failed invasion attempt to our fair city by the orcs of the west, we felt it appropriate to get a few words from several prominent members of the Overlook community, regarding how they feel about Overlook’s current situation and the possible threats. First up is Bram Ironfell, one of Overlook’s wealthiest residents and spokesman for the Elsir Consortium, the Vale’s most trusted suppliers.

Overlook People’s Voice: Thank you for meeting with us, Master Ironfell.Bram Ironfell: Master Ironfell is my great-uncle, just call me Bram.OPV: If you insist, Bram. Your family is one of Overlook’s oldest, with Clan Ironfell playing a founding role in Overlook’s history.BI: Aye, and we’ll not sit idly by while savages try to seize the city, either!OPV: How do you feel the Elders handled the situation?BI: Well, seems like asking for volunteers, even mercenary ones like these adventurers around the place, paid off. Who knows, maybe we should replace the city guard with “reformed” bandits and thieves, too!OPV: Do Clan Ironfell and the Elsir Consortium feel that things can go back to normal now?BI: You can bet we’re keeping an eye on the whole region, given the extent of our caravans’ travels. The orcs out west aren’t the only potential threat on the outskirts of the Vale, nor are we blind to possible threats inside the Vale, either.OPV: Thank you for meeting with us, master Ironfell.BI: That’s Bram to you, Edrik, and you know it.

Thanks for reading, and return next week when we have Judge Leona’s opinions on crime in all eight of Overlook’s districts. Yes, even High Hall!

Naming a World

The humans of Nerath, the last great empire, adopted the ways and concepts of their neighbors and those who came before them, stealing shamelessly from cultures far and wide. So when the time came that Nerathi philosophers needed to discuss the nature of the world itself, they had several words to choose from.

The dragons and those who spoke their language called the world Io, after the mythical deity whose riven halves became both the noble Bahamut and the cruel Tiamat.

The pragmatic and honorable descendants of Arkhosia, the great dragonborn empire of the south, called the world Khal, a word also meaning “soil”.

The Turathi, better known as tieflings, once human themselves, called the world Mal Avroth, meaning “The Precipice”.

And spread among all nations and all regions, the elves, immigrants millennia ago from the Feywild, called the world the simple term Arda. Their eladrin cousins found the term (meaning “region” or “land”) quaint, but adopted it likewise, as did many other fey-origin races.

When the Nerathi humans first achieved civilization, much of their learning and the earliest hints of philosophy came from elven refugees. During debates about the origin of Arda, the majority of Nerathi philosophers finally agreed to adopt many of the beliefs of the elves, including the elven name for the world…

Arda.

OOC Information

This game is played entirely online using straight 4th edition rules per the books and the online D&D Compendium. Tools used for play are: